A driveway carries a different load than any other paved surface on the property — the repeated weight, braking force, and turning torque of vehicles — and that changes almost everything about how it has to be built compared to a patio. Base depth roughly doubles, the paver units themselves are typically thicker, and the structural pattern has to resist the sideways “creep” that vehicle turning movements cause over time.

Driveways also carry the heaviest permitting burden of any hardscape project in the tri-county area, and the rules genuinely differ county to county in ways that surprise homeowners pricing this out on their own — Miami-Dade regulates driveway width and count, Broward requires a minimum sized, dimensioned plan, and Palm Beach adds right-of-way conditions when the driveway touches a public street. We handle that variation directly rather than assuming one county’s rule applies everywhere.

Miami-Dade County regulates driveway width and count directly — interior width generally has to fall between 10 and 20 feet, and no more than two driveways or approaches are typically allowed per property. Broward County requires submitted driveway plans to meet minimum dimensions (commonly cited as 18 by 18 feet or 9 by 36 feet for single-family driveways) with all materials and dimensions specified on the permit application. Palm Beach County generally requires a permit for any driveway paving that connects to a public street, and where the work touches the right-of-way, the county can require a recorded removal agreement obligating the homeowner to maintain or remove the pavers if the county ever needs that right-of-way back.

A driveway typically ties into the street or a drainage swale at one end, which means its grading has to work with the county’s stormwater system, not against it — blocking or redirecting swale flow is one of the more common violations we catch during design review. Permeable paver systems are an option here too, both for on-site drainage performance and, in jurisdictions with impervious surface limits, as a way to keep more square footage of usable driveway without maxing out lot coverage caps. HOA and deed restrictions on paver color and material are also more common for driveways than any other hardscape element, since they’re the most visible surface from the street.